Why do affiliate marketers fail? Affiliate marketers fail for a number of reasons. Often they go in to affiliate marketing with unrealistic expectations. Barriers to entry with affiliate marketing are incredibly low which means nearly anyone can “give it a go”. This “give it a go” mentality is another reason many affiliates fail. There’s a whole host of hurdles and problems which affiliates will encounter too. Affiliates need to learn how to manage their time, avoid distractions and focus on the next step in front of them. This can be difficult, especially without a clear path which they can tread.
“Shiny object syndrome” is often cited as another reason affiliates fail. With all the affiliate products and courses available, each one promising more than the last, it can be easy to jump from course to course without making any progress. Planning and strategising is important in affiliate marketing. Without coaching and mentoring, it can be easy to become demoralised and quit. If you lack belief in building an affiliate business this will almost always lead to quitting.
Many courses can exaggerate the ease with which you can earn through affiliate marketing. This, of course, sells more of the courses but leaves new affiliates with unrealistic expectations that affiliate is easy. Why is affiliate marketing so hard? Like any business, building it requires a lot of hard work and consistency. If you are from an employee background, expectations and habits can work against you. See mindset shift from employee to entrepreneur.
Why Do Affiliate Marketers Fail? Employee/Entrepreneur Mindset
Affiliates come from all backgrounds and often with no business experience. In an job, you get paid for turning up and putting in a number of hours. With affiliate marketing you only get paid according to your performance. So there’s a period if time when you’re working on your business without seeing any tangible results in terms of income. This can be difficult, especially if you are used to trading time for money.
A business owner knows there’s a lot of work to put in before you can benefit from its success. But from an employee perspective, if you’ve put in several months and there’s nothing to see, you can assume that this means the business itself is flawed in some way. This can affect your belief in what you’re doing and when happens, there’s little drive to carry on.
Entrepreneurs have different skills to employees too. They are motivated differently. They know to feed their beliefs and keep their motivation high in order to succeed. This is a mindset skill which employees seldom have. Setting goals, building your beliefs with mantras and connecting with other like minded individuals is important for success with a business too. If you’re surrounded with naysayers who don’t believe in what you’re doing, it’s so much easier to quit.
Why Do Affiliate Marketers Fail – Quitting
Most affiliate marketers fail because they quit. Quitting is the number one reason for failure! So to ensure success as an affiliate you need to commit to a journey of consistent improvement. If you see affiliate marketing as a quick fix, it will seldom work for you. But if you commit to it, no matter what happens and bring an attitude of “whatever it takes”, you’re much more likely to succeed, however long it takes.
If you say you’ll give it six months, or “give it a go”, you’ve already decided to quit! The long term affiliates are those who succeed with it. Seldom can someone become an overnight success with affiliate marketing without putting in the time and effort for many months or years beforehand.
In the image above, James Clear shows the “valley of disappointment” as the gap between what we expect and the reality. This is a good representation for affiliate marketing. In affiliate marketing there’s a long learning curve where nothing much happens. It’s a growth phase where you’re learning and growing. Once you start applying your knowledge it will take some time before you see the results.
What we expect to happen is a long way from what actually happens, depending on the action steps we take. But in many cases, this period of hard work with little to show is too much.
The Chinese Bamboo Analogy
I use this analogy a lot because it’s a useful way to show why many affiliates fail. The Chinese Bamboo tree has a gestation period of 4-5 years before anything shows above the ground. Someone who doesn’t know this will likely assume the plant is dead, and throw it away! That would be a shame because the bamboo tree will grow 90 feet in 4-5 weeks!
The same can be said with affiliate marketing. The initial “gestation period” can be anything from several months to several years, depending on your marketing strategy. But once you break through and start making sales online, you can repeat this over and over again with very little effort. Automation can allow you to make sales in your sleep and you can completely replace your income. This is the outcome so many affiliates want. But very few are prepared to keep going in the face of so much adversity.
Help & Support
Most new affiliates go it alone. They don’t change their circle of influence or get the help they really need. Look around you at your closest 10 friends. You are the average of your closest friends in many respects. Not many people are surrounded by internet entrepreneurs. More likely you are surrounded by people who would want to talk you out of trying such a thing!
Going it alone with affiliate marketing, while being surrounded by employees trying to talk you out of it is incredibly difficult. Your friends can pick holes if your online efforts and attempt to derail your journey. They often mean well, but this can be a major problem.
Your chances of succeeding is vastly improved by joining an online mentorship program and getting help and support. Coaches can help you with mindsets, setting goals and staying focused. Many drop out because they assume affiliate marketing is an easy thing. They don’t get the help they need or commit to the journey.
For more information on affiliate marketing, and to join a community and get help and support, access the free video series by clicking on the image below.
